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Monday July 17 2017

Courts go on leave

In Summary

The appellate courts (Court of Appeal and Supreme Court) will begin their vacation on July 31, and end on August 31.

Acting chief registrar Tom Chemutai explained that the purpose of the vacation is to enable judicial officers do chamber work such as writing of pending rulings and judgments, which they could not process during the busy court sessions

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By ANTHONY WESAKA

KAMPALA. The High courts and Magistrate’s courts have gone on a one-month vacation and will resume duty on August 15. The vacation started last Saturday.During the vacation, the said courts will not hear any civil matter except criminal cases only. The appellate courts (Court of Appeal and Supreme Court) will begin their vacation on July 31, and end on August 31.Acting chief registrar Tom Chemutai explained that the purpose of the vacation is to enable judicial officers do chamber work such as writing of pending rulings and judgments, which they could not process during the busy court sessions.

“During this time, courts are not expected to hear civil cases but normal court business continues such as receiving and filing of new cases,” Mr Chemutai said.He added: “However, when urgent cases that are civil in nature come up, the concerned parties can apply to court for a certificate of urgency stating why the matter needs to be disposed of quickly. When the certificate of urgency is granted, the case can be handled as an exception.” Such emergency cases include land and house eviction threats affecting a big population.

VacationsThere are two court vacations annually. The first is between July and August and the second runs between December 23, to January 7, of the following year.

StrikeThe courts’ vacation comes at the time when State criminal prosecutors under the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are on strike over low pay. They are expected to convene in Kampala today for an extraordinary assembly to decide on whether to call off or continue with the strike which started last Wednesday.